The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
by LastSheikah
Summary: Updated! Chap. 4! Not really a chapter...yet, but I need you people's help a little for chapter 5...So please help!
1. Prologue and The Legend Begins

Disclaimer and other stuffs: 

LS: I own the Legend of Zelda!!!!! Whahahaha!!!! *wakes up* DARN IT! I don't even own this floppy disk!!!!! *holds up floppy disk* But, that doesn't matter. If it weren't for this floppy disk, this fic would never reach the Internet!!!!! *begins rambling about stuff she doesn't own* I do own an original character in this story, but her name is well…unoriginal. *rambles again*

Talli: *after an hour of crazy rambling* THEY GET THE IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lena: ^_^

LS: Sorry!

Lena: ^_^

LS: And the few who are brave enough to review, I'm accepting constructive criticism and…I can't believe I'm actually saying this…Flames.

Talli: 00 NO!!!! Don't do it!!!! You'll get killed!

Lena: ^_^

LS: What are you so happy about?

Lena: ^_^

Talli: Oh, sorry. I gave her a lot of pixy stix.

LS: 0.0

Talli: But how can you stand the heat of flames?

LS: I have my ways…*picks up book titled 'A Million and One Ways to Use Flames'* 

The Wind Waker  

This is but one of the Legends of which the people speak:

Long ago, there existed a kingdom where a golden power lay hidden.

It was a land of high mountains, vast lakes and forests, and peace.

But, one day, a man of great evil entered the land and took the golden power for himself, and with its power at his command, he spread darkness across the kingdom.

Then, just as the hour of doom seemed at hand and all hope had died…

A boy clothed in green appeared as if from no where.

Wielding the 'Blade of Evils' Bane,' he defeated the evil and gave the land light, and many years of peace followed.

This boy, who had traveled through time to save the land, was known as the Hero of Time.

The boy's tale was passed down through generations until it became legend.

But then, a foul wind began to blow across the kingdom.

The great evil that all thought had been forever sealed away by the Hero,

Crept back from the very depths of the earth, seeking to resume its dark designs.

The people believed that the Hero of Time would come again to save the land,

But the Hero did not appear…

All the people could do was appeal to the gods.

And, in their final hour, their future was left in the hands of fate…

What became of that kingdom? None remain who know.

The memory of the kingdom vanished, but its legend survived on the wind's breath.

On a certain island, it became customary to garb boys in green when they came of age.

Clothed in the green of fields, the boys aspired to find heroic blades and cast down evil.

The elders only wished for the boys to know courage like the Hero of legend.

1 The Legend Begins 

    "'Hoy!" a young girl yelled as she ran out of her home on Outset, her blond hair waving softly in the easterly wind. A seagull landed on her shoulder as she put a brown telescope to one of her eyes and looked around. "Big Brother!"

    Meanwhile, on the Eastern side of Outset Island, high on top of a lookout, a boy wearing orange pants and a long sea blue shirt sat on the railings of the lookout. He stared out to sea with deep concentration, watching every wave as they rose and fell. Underneath his messy golden hair, his pointy ears suddenly twitched. The easterly wind had just completely turned around and was now blowing east.

    "That's weird. The wind doesn't usually change that much, that quickly," he said. A seagull cawed as it landed next to him.

    "Out here again, Link?" Link literally jumped off the railings and slipped off, barely grabbing onto the floor of the outlook before falling to the ocean. He climbed back to solid ground, gasping for breath.

    "Aryll, please don't sneak up on me," Link groaned. Aryll giggled.

    "I didn't mean too. Normally, you would've caught me before I could do that."

    "I was thinking."

    "About what?" Link shrugged.

    "Stuff."

    "Well, then maybe you were thinking about what today is," Aryll said mysteriously.

    "What today is? What's today?"

    "You can't remember what today is? Are you half-asleep or something?" Aryll giggled again loudly. "Link! Today's your birthday!" Her brother quickly snapped out of his thinking trance and rubbed the back of his neck with a little embarrassment. "Grandma wants you to get back to the house. She's been waiting a while now. Everyone's ready for the party!" Link sighed. He knew exactly what the big deal was. Link was now the same age as the Hero of legend when he began his adventure. On Outset, that meant a lot.

    Quickly deciding on taking a shortcut, the boy sat back down on the railings.

    "Link, what are you doing?" Aryll asked.

    "I'm gonna get different clothes on anyway. I might as well get wet while I still can." As he said this, Link leaned back as far as he could on the rails until he was hanging upside down, and let go, so he fell into the salty water with a perfect dive. Right as he hit the water, he began swimming back over to the Western Island, where his Grandma was waiting in the house. 

    "'Hoy! Link! Over here!" someone shouted at him from the docks as Link climbed out of the water near his home. "Where ya' goin'?" A small boat with a structure on top floated gently to the shore of Outset and a skinny man stood on the bow, tying the boat to the dock. He was wearing blue pants and wore no shirt, his usual attire.

    "Oh, hey, Beedle. I thought you'd never visit this island again."

    "Well, you know me. As soon as that ghost ship moves north, I move south. So, where ya' going?" Link chuckled. Beedle had never believed most of the rumors that went around the Great Sea, but when it came to ghosts, Beedle was very superstitious.

    "Well, I'm going back to my house. It's-" Link was suddenly interrupted as the merchant fell back on his boat.

    "It's your birthday! I almost forgot! How old are ya'? Ten, is it?" Beedle asked, getting back to his feet.

    "Actually twelve." Beedle fell back down again. The deck of his boat was obviously very slippery. 

    "Twelve, huh? Ya' know, you're as old as the Hero spoken of in legends was when he began his adventures," Beedle said with a slight smirk.

     "I thought you didn't believe in the legend."

    "Today I do, even if you don't. And, I believe that what you've been dreading is today." Link sighed with exasperation. When the boys of Outset "came of age" they had to wear a green tunic like the Hero's for their birthday. Once upon a time, they were even given swords to cast down evil, but that seemed like ages ago. Orca was the only one on the island who had even touched a sword, besides Sturgeon, his brother, who had given up on swordplay.

    "I'm just glad it's only for today, and today only," Link replied. The Merchant, Beedle, chuckled. "Who started this tradition anyway?"  

    "Someone obsessed with the old legends, probably," Beedle said thoughtfully. "Well, go on to your house and get your "present." I'll give you a good present when you come back, but you won't get it unless I see green. And I don't mean green Rupees.' The boy groaned loudly and ran the rest of the way to his home. 

    When he reached the door, he glanced at the symbol on the door: Three intricate triangles forming a larger one. Even if he had no interest whatsoever in the legends, the simple design on the door had always meant something to him. It had become a tradition over the years for him to look at the door whenever he went into his house. After looking for just a second, Link opened the door and walked into his house quickly.

    "Link," his Grandma said softly when she heard the door close. She had been in her usual spot by the fire, cooking soup. "Happy birthday."

   "Oh. Hi, Grandma," Link greeted sadly as he looked at the green clothes in his grandmother's hands.

    "Time sure flies. I can't believe your old enough to wear these clothes. These were the same clothes worn by the Hero in the olden days. Well, maybe not the same ones, but fairly close. In the old days, when a boy reached a certain age, they finally were considered to be men, and were taught the ways of the sword to defeat countless monsters." Link rolled his eyes. He had definitely heard this conversation before. "Now, our ways are the ways of peace. Orca is probably the only one in the village who knows anything about swordplay. Well, try them on." Grandma held out the clothes to Link and he took them gravely. She turned around as Link quickly changed into the outfit: a green tunic with white pants, brown leather boots, a brown leather belt with a satchel, a light green undershirt, and a large forest green cap that could've been a circus tent. He pulled the hat over his messy blonde hair as his grandma turned back around.

    "Don't look so down. You only have to wear them for one day, but you should be proud. Your father was." Grandma quickly shut her mouth and changed the subject. Link's parents had died many years before in a boat wreck near Crescent Island during the full moon. Many people said that that was one of the worst things that could happen to anyone: to die near that cursed island on the night of the full moon. "Now, go get Aryll. Sturgeon gave me news that a storm might hit before dusk. He sounded worried about it, too. A terrible thing to happen on your birthday, too. If we're going to have a birthday party for you, we'd better have it before then."

    "A storm? Hit Outset?" Link just shrugged it off thinking, "Impossible!" And obediently ran back out the door to get Aryll. Sturgeon was probably the smartest man alive on the Great Sea, but a storm hitting the peaceful island of Outset was as impossible as pirates suddenly appearing at the island. But then, nothing's impossible, right? 

    Link smiled when he stepped out the door. Beedle was right outside, about to knock on the door, when he opened it. The traveling merchant quickly hid a pink…thing behind his back and sniggered.

    "Don't say a word," Link growled.

    "Sorry, but I've never actually _seen _the outfit. Thank goodness I grew up on Windfall. Either the Hero loved green, or 'e rolled around in grass a lot." Beedle was really pressuring himself to contain his laughter. "Anyhoo, happy birthday!" He took a pink cloth sack with the face of a pig sewed on the front, stuffed full of some kind of bait, out from behind his back and gave it to Link.

    "A bait bag?"

    "Yep. It's my last one, and its yours for free! Just don't tell anyone, or everyone will want free stuff for their birthdays," Beedle said and Link chuckled as he gratefully took the bag and strapped it to his belt. "Now, you'd better go get your sister. Every sailor on the Sea that I've met's been talking about this big storm that's supposed to hit. Ya' know how sailors are. They know the seas." Again about that storm?

    "Whatever. Even if a storm did hit the Great Sea, it wouldn't be here. This island's never been hit by a storm. Even Sturgeon will agree with that!"

    "You think what ya' will, but ol' Cyclos is on the move." Link shook his head at his old friend. Since when did he believe the tales about the Hero and about the god of storms? Beedle shrugged, said a quick "See ya", and walked back to the beach, leaving a very confused Link. Things were getting strange. Shaking off the dumbfoundedness, he ran across the bridge connecting the two islands and climbed the ladder to the tower, where Aryll was waiting with dozens of seagulls flying around on the soft breeze. 

    "Hey, Link," Aryll said with an ear-to-ear grin. Her smile quickly dropped when she saw Link's outfit. "Wow. Did Grandma make that for you? It looks like it might be a little warm." Link blinked innocently. He had never noticed that they would normally be sweltering hot in the tropical weather, because they actually felt just fine. "Anyway, I still have to give you my gift! Close your eyes and hold out your hands!"

    "Sis, you didn't have to…"

    "Yes, I did. Just 'cause you're my big brother," Aryll replied as she placed something long and thin in Link's hands. "Now, open your eyes! And I'm only letting you have it for today. You have to give it back eventually."

    "Your telescope! Thanks, Aryll!" Link exclaimed gratefully as he admired the long piece of metal. He looked around through the telescope and stopped when he was looking at the postbox near his house and zoomed in on it. A strange man with dark skin and a big yellow-ish nose was standing in front, dropping a few letters in it. The man looked up, jumped back in surprise, and suddenly wings sprouted from his slender arms and he began to fly around wildly.

    "AHHHH! Link! Look up in the sky!" his sister shouted. Link immediately turned the telescope away from the birdman and watched the sky. Every person outside his or her own house on Outset was doing the same thing: staring at a giant black bird, with its flowing golden tail, soaring high in the air. But only Link, with the telescope, could see what it was carrying in its talons.

    A girl was clutched tightly in that bird's claws.

    Without notice, a cannonball went soaring past the bird, and Link looked towards the sea. A huge wooden ship was catapulting dozens of cannonballs at the bird, one by one. The ship had a pirate's sail and flag. No pirates ever came to Outset. They hurled one last cannonball to the bird, just as it looked towards the boat, and it hit the bird right on the side of the head. It released its talons, and just barely caught itself before falling to the forest below. The girl, however, fell straight into the trees.

    "Link!" Aryll exclaimed, practically jumping up and down. "We have to help her! But the forest is blocked off! We have to get in there somehow!" Link thought frantically, trying to think of some way to get to the forest. Pirates, a giant kidnapping bird, everyone talking about a storm: everything seemed absolutely upside down. Then, he remembered another thing. Orca had swords, and using a sword was the only possible way to get to the forest. Orca could lend a sword to Link, but just for the day. Just until that girl was safe.

    Link quickly jumped over the side of the tower and fell into the water once again, but this time, he swan straight for Orca's house. He entered the door of the first floor (the second floor was where Sturgeon lived) and began talking to Orca as fast as possible.

    "OrcaIneedaswordbecausethisgirlgotdroppedintotheforestandsheneedshelp!" The old man, Orca, just stared at Link with confusion.

    "Slow down, boy! If you're going to talk, catch your breath first!" Link took a deep breath, and began to speak again.

    "I need a sword, because this bird kidnapped a girl, and a cannonball from these pirates hit the bird, so it dropped the girl. Now the girl's somewhere in the forest, and I need a sword to get into the forest!"

    "She fell in the forest? Oh, no. That's not good." Orca's aged face grew wrinkled with worry; he took a short sword, tossed it to Link, and ran towards the door. "We need to find her fast, before the monsters do."

    "Monsters?" Link squeaked. "Um, Orca. I don't know how to use a sword! I've never touched one in my life!" Orca stopped in mid-step and turned back around. Link's grandmother would probably kill Orca if the old man had given Link a sword- or anything sharp for that matter. In that case, why Link even thought of getting a sword first thing is still a mystery. Orca began to chuckle slightly.

    "Then, are you ready for serious instruction on the ways of the sword?" Orca questioned. Link didn't like the sound of it, but the hilt of the sword in his hands…it felt…right. Orca walked back to the center of his house, holding his spear as if he was going to fight an army of monsters. "Well, if your grandma likes it or not, the days of peace may be ending. You need to learn how to use a sword, so we can save that girl. You can't go into that forest defenseless."

    "What about if _I _like it or not?" Link said under his breath. "I only need a sword to get there, not to knock the stuffing out of monsters."

    "What was that?"

    "I just said, 'Let's get going already!'"

    "Patience," Orca said as he bowed slightly to Link. Link quickly followed suit and bowed, too. "First is the horizontal swing. Come up to me and swing your sword horizontally."

    "But, won't you get hurt? This thing looks pretty sharp," the boy experimentally swung the blade and listened to the sharp sound of it cutting through the air.

    "I'll be fine. We have to hurry, remember?" Link nodded reluctantly and ran up to Orca and swung his sword at the aged man. This continued for a while, until Link had practiced horizontal and vertical swings, thrusts, spin attacks, jump attacks and parry attacks so well that he could probably do them in his sleep. Link grasped his knees tightly to catch his breath as Orca walked towards the door.

    "That was very good, but we shouldn't waste anymore time." Link nodded tiredly and unwillingly followed Orca out and up to the forest.

    "Are we there yet?"

    "No!"

    "How much longer?"

    "The more you talk, the longer it will take," Orca said with some annoyance. They had been walking up the side of one of the mountains that covered most of Outset Island to get to the bridge that led to the forest.

    "Does it have to be all uphill?" Link complained

    "Do you want to save that girl or not!" This time, Link stayed silent. Orca nodded and continued to lead Link up the mountain, until they finally came to the very peak and were facing the bridge and forest. The old swordsman didn't stop, as Link had hoped for, but kept on going, jumped across a gap in the bridge, and entered the dense forest.

    "Wait for me!" Link shouted as he ran over the bridge hopped across the gap, and ran deep into the woods.

    Just as he had gone far enough into the trees to not be able to see the entrance, Link had to abruptly stop so he wouldn't crash into Orca. Orca was just standing there, looking at the canopy of trees. He looked around at the tops of the trees, seeking whatever it was that Orca was looking at, and saw the girl. She was hanging from a tree branch only by the back of her blue vest.

    "Orca! That's her! Come on!"

    "Link, be quiet," Orca demanded, and his voice instantly dropped to a whisper. "The monsters are most likely waiting in an ambush."

    "Orca, you're being paranoid. There are no monsters here!" To prove that he was right, Link walked right up to the tree holding the girl up. He was about to call the girl to wake her up, but before he could do that, a loud growl was heard and a black creature with several small horns and a brown vest fell from the trees.

    "Link! You fool!" Orca shouted. The Bokoblin hopped towards the man and he held up his staff to block the attacks. "Get that girl out of the tree!" Link nodded and rushed towards the tree and shouted at the girl, trying to get her to wake up before the Bokoblin decided to take an easier target. The girl opened her eyes slowly, and blinked at the ground.

    She let out a quick yelp and began struggling helplessly until she heard a strange cracking sound. She stopped for just a second, and the branch holding her up snapped. The Bokoblin turned in surprise at the sound, and Orca smacked it upside the head with his staff, knocking the monster out for good.

    "Owwwww," the girl moaned as Link and Orca helped her to her feet. "What happened?" She took a step back and looked at Link's outfit. "What's with the get-up?" 

    "It's some stu- I mean- It's a tradition here." In the middle of the word stupid, Orca had given Link a nasty look.

    "MISS TETRA! Miss!" Everyone looked towards the entrance of the forest, were a bulky man was running in with his arms high in the air. "We all thought you were a goner when that bird dropped you on this summit!"

    "A summit? That bird dropped me on top of a mountain?" Tetra, the girl, gave the look that showed she wanted some revenge, a look she was an expert at. "Well, wasn't that nice of it. Come on! We have to go pay that bird back in full!" Tetra began to walk to the entrance and signaled for the man to follow.

    "But, what about these two?"

    "The old man and the kid? They'll be fine! Come on!" The man, who judging by the outfit he was wearing, was a pirate, ran off towards the girl.

    "Link, were those…pirates?"

    "Yeah, I already told you."

    "I didn't believe it at first, but let's go. We have no business in here." Orca marched after the pirates and Link followed, but not before going out of his way to step on the Bokoblin first.

    As they walked out of the forest, Link took a long deep breath. It was really stuffy in the forest, and a good breath of ocean air always fixed that.

    "Big Brother!" Aryll shouted. She was waiting on the other side of the bridge with two seagulls on either side. Link smiled and waved at the little girl, and she happily skipped across the bridge to meet them. 

    Then, when she was about halfway across the bridge, a loud cawing sound was heard. A giant black streak shot down out of the sky and passed right over Aryll, leaving only large black feathers where she once was.

    "BROTHER!" screamed Aryll from the bird's talons.

    Link shouted in horror and fury and the bird, drew his sword, and ran toward the bird. Suddenly he felt nothing underneath his feet, gravity took hold and he began to plummet towards the water, when the girl grabbed his hand.

    "Stupid…kid!" She shouted as Link struggled wildly.

    "Let me go! I have to save Aryll! LET ME GO!"

    "Link! Stop struggling! She's gone," Orca said softly. Link stopped and just hung there limply as he stared out at the bird. Now it was only a black dot on the horizon showing where the bird was going.

    "Aryll…"

LS: *blinks* How'd that happen? Oh, well. Now that it's over with, I can finally work on Death Mountain!!!! ^__^

Talli: *smacks LS upside the head with a…fan…* NO! You have to work on the next chapter!

LS: But, but, but…Can't I just see what this blue square thingy does?

Talli: *grins evilly* Fine, I guess that's okay…

LS: *plays GBA SP for a while* WHAT IN THE WORLD! What's with the pink bunny get-up?!?!?!

Talli & Lena: *burst out laughing*

LS: Fine, I'll start the next chapter now. *grumbles and walks to computer* I like the next chapter better anyway. This one seemed a little rushed…

Next time: A Day and A Half in the Life of Pirates

Tetra began to bark orders at all of the pirates as the winds picked up. Link, Niko, and Gonzo were all tying the sails up, when suddenly a great wave slammed the side of the ship.

"Miss Tetra! If the wind gets any stronger, it'll rip the mast right outta the ship!" Niko shouted over the howling winds.

"Don't say that! You'll curse us like that!" Almost instantly, the winds did get stronger, and another wave crashed against the starboard side. In the force of the impact, Niko hold on the mast broke, he went falling to the sea.

"Niko!" Link yelled. He slid down the mast, grabbed a rope from the cabin wall, and ran towards the port side where Niko was. The boy tied the rope round his feet, and tied the other end to the boat's railings.

"MAN OVERBOARD!" Mako exclaimed. The captain shot a look to her right, and gasped when she saw Link falling off the boat.

"LINK!"  


	2. A Day and a Half in the Life of Pirates

LS: *skipping around the house as Saria's Song plays in the background* YYYYAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!! I got a review!!!!! And in record time!!!!! =D =D =D

Lena: 0.o?

Talli: *video taping the whole thing* heheheh!

LS: Thank you SO much for the review, Master Frodo Baggins! I love your ficcie! *starts skipping around the house some more*

Talli: Y'know, since you were all prepared for flames and everything, I really wasn't expecting you to act like this on your first review…

LS: ^_______________________^

Talli: This is something you don't see often from a Sheikah…

LS: *in a singsong voice* Still don't own Legend of Zelda! Don't sue me!

Talli: *smacks forehead* Did you and Lena switch personalities or something?

Lena: -_-

Talli: Yep…

2 A Day and a Half in the Life of Pirates

    "What? You want to come with us?!" Tetra asked, clearly surprised. The pirates had sailed their ship to the dock, and now they were all at the beach. Link nodded with a determined look. "Are you serious?!  We're pirates! You know…PIRATES! The terror of the seas! What do we get from bringing some whiny little kid along with us?" The boy opened his mouth to answer, but Tetra spoke first. "I'll tell you what: a HEADACHE! Besides, we have nothing to do with this." Link clenched his fists. He would save his sister no matter what, and this bossy little pirate would not stand between him and his sister's freedom.

    "And how do you figure that?" the birdman from before asked. He just suddenly appeared, and had apparently been eavesdropping for a while.

    "Hey, hey, HEY!" One of the pirates exclaimed. "What do ya' think your doing, butting into other people's conversations, yeah?"

    "Sorry, but just let me speak. If you hadn't come to this peaceful, little island-" He looked at Link and asked his name.

    "Link," he answered.

    "Pleased to meet you -Link's sister would never have been kidnapped by that monstrous bird." The pirate captain looked down at the sand guiltily. She had never thought of that. 

    "But, why did it take Aryll? Tetra was standing right there!" Link questioned, and Tetra shot him an evil glare. "Sorry."

    "As my work involves the postal service, I do a lot of traveling among the various islands, and I hear a few rumors. I have heard that young girls with long ears have been getting kidnapped. Long ears, like your Miss Fearsome Pirate," he explained. "It's possible that the bird took Link's sister, thinking she was you."

    "Well, we still can't help," Tetra stated rudely. "We don't even know where that stupid bird is!"

    "But, what about getting your revenge on that bird!" Link shouted angrily. "What about my sister?"

    "Don't worry, Link, we'll get to her somehow. I also happen to know where that bird makes its nest. At an island far north of here, on the towers of the Forsaken Fortress." All of the pirates stepped back and their eyes grew wide in fear.

    "The F-Forsaken Fortress?! But isn't that where-"

    "I take it you've heard of the place." The birdman turned around and his wings appeared. "I wish you luck in finding your sister, Link." With that, he flew off leaving the pirates speechless.

    "Fine, kid. We'll take you along, but only if you can find something to defend yourself with," Tetra demanded. "Don't you have a shield or anything like that? You can't go to a place like the Forsaken Fortress and not be able to defend yourself!"  A grin spread across Link's face and he raced back to his house, leaving the pirates stunned once again.

    When he entered his house, he found his grandmother standing next to the ladder leading to the second story, with a look of worry on her face.

    "Link, what happened? Where's Aryll?" she asked. "I heard a loud scream, and the bird…" Link, walked up to the ladder, and solemnly climbed up to the second floor, but quickly climbed back down as if there was ten monsters up there. The shield hanging on the wall was missing!

    When Link set his feet back on the ground, he walked over to his grandma. If the shield had gone missing, he would never be able to get to the Forsaken Fortress, and his sister…"No! I can't think like that!" he thought.

    It was then he noticed. His grandma was holding something in her arms.

    "Link, were you looking for this?" she turned around and showed the shield she was holding. "Take it with you." Link bit his bottom lip and slung the shield, the same shield he once thought he was lucky to never have to use, over his back.

    "I know about what happened to Aryll. What kind of monster could take such a sweet, innocent child?" Link felt a tear trail down his cheek.

    "I'm going to rescue her, Grandma. I will do whatever it takes."

    Senza raised his arms up high over the head and brought them down again to ring the gong aboard the ship. The gong, from one of the previous 'trips' as Tetra put it, signaled the start of their travels. They were finally off to the Forsaken Fortress.

    All of Link's friends stood on the beach, waving good-bye at their friend and shouting out calls of good luck. Link, on the ship, waved sadly, yet happily at the same time, at all of them, until he saw someone. He ran to the very edge of the stern and looked towards his house. The little, old woman was standing outside his house, looking towards the ocean and the ship. Link waved slowly just as Outset Island became dark on the horizon. He was off to save his sister.

    "How much longer is this going to last? Do you have an estimate?" Tetra said smartly. Link narrowed his eyes at the captain of the ship. He wasn't going to let her insult him the entire way to the Forsaken Fortress. But then again, she was his only ticket there. "Look, kid. You could always turn back now. We can still turn around. And besides, I can tell you're just gonna get more sentimental from here on out." The gong rang one more time, and the boy gave his home one last look.

    "I'm not giving up that easily, Tetra. I won't rest until Aryll is safe."

    "Good, because with the work you get to do until we get there, you won't be able to rest," she replied. "If you want a ride to that cursed island, you going to work for it. Niko will tell you what to do." A tiny man in a red striped shirt walked up to Tetra and Link.

    "And, who's the kid?" Link asked, only to receive a very hard punch from the microscopic pirate.

    "I am NOT a kid! I'm probably at least ten years older than you! And, I'm your superior for the rest of the trip." Link gaped at Tetra with the famed 'you've-got-to-be-kidding' look.

    "Short stuff here is Niko?" Our hero (*bursts out laughing* And I thought I didn't have a sense of humor!) got another punch in the arm. 

    "Yep, and unless you do what I tell ya', we can always maroon you on one of these islands. There's plenty out here to choose from. Now, follow me for your first job." Link hesitantly followed behind the midget, and heard Tetra shout to her crew.

    "Senza! Get the catapult ready! We might need it to get into the Fortress." Senza's eyes grew wide. He knew that this girl meant business this time. "Niko! Link! Since you two swabbies are still up here, you can carry the gong under." The pirate taking the gong down, Senza, snickered. That thing was almost heavy as an ox, and not a small one. "Gonzo! Turn this ship towards Diamond Steppe Island! We're going to take the Fortress from the south!"

    Link mused her last order. If they were going to go to go to Diamond Steppe Island, they would be going west, against they wind. That means it would take forever just to get to that little bit of land!

    "Why are we going there first? Wouldn't it be faster to go straight to the Forsaken Fortress?" he questioned. Senza and Niko stopped what they were doing, and cringed at Link's words. Questioning the orders of the ship's captain wasn't the most brilliant thing in the world to do.

    "Because, if we head straight for the Fortress, we'll be against the wind the entire way, but if we go west and then north, the wind will be at least half with us," she explained. The two pirates let out a sigh of relief. It definitely could have been worse. "If you ever somehow gain the ability to change the direction of the wind, then feel free to question whatever I say." Link snorted. Like that would ever happen. "Now, I believe that Niko needs some help. That gong looks a little heavy." Niko was indeed having troubles. Only his feet and hands could be seen from behind the gong, and it looked like he was dancing with it across the deck. Link rushed over and caught him and the giant instrument before they both went tumbling off the edge of the ship.

Now Link sat on the deck with his back to the mast, thoroughly exhausted. He never knew it could be so hard to do just 'little' jobs for pirates. Then again, the people of Outset mostly stayed on the island and fished for trading and for food. And fishing really wasn't that hard. Niko had Link working so hard that he thought his hands would fall off. If he saw another barnacle ever again, he thought he might die. 

    The boy in green glanced up at the sky, where a single black cloud was drifting across the endless mess of stars. A black cloud? That couldn't be good. Black clouds meant a storm, and that was the blackest cloud he had ever seen.

    Link stopped to think for a second. He could go tell Tetra, but he couldn't get into her room. Nudge, another pirate, made sure of that. Gonzo kept on telling him to go bug Niko, and he was pretty sure the rest of the crew couldn't get into Tetra's room either. There was only one last choice. 

    Hurriedly, he climbed up the ladder to the crow's nest, only to find that the look out, Zuko, was fast asleep.

    "Sleeping like a baby, are we?" Link said quietly. "GET UP!" Zuko was suddenly catapulted into the air by his own surprise, but still half-asleep.

    "Wha' 'appened?" he asked, rubbing his half-opened eyes.

    "I was just wondering, should we worry about those clouds? They are storm clouds, right?" Zuko looked through his telescope at the single cloud, and shrugged it off like it was nothing.

    "One cloud? I thought it was gonna be something more along the lines of 'the sky is falling!' Wait…why did you say _those clouds?" Link pointed down, and Zuko's telescope followed._

    "WHAT THE-! Miss Tetra! Miss Tetra!"

    "She's in her room, Zuko!" Gonzo shouted as he gave the wheel a quick turn.

    "Gonzo! Go get her! We've got a storm to the southeast and it's coming this way fast!"

    "What? I can't hear you!" Zuko repeated what he said. "Still can't hear! Try shouting louder!"

    "STORM TO THE SOUTHEAST! GET THE CAPTAIN!" both Link and Zuko screamed. Gonzo chuckled a little and turned around, thinking it was just a little 'pirates who cried wolf' thing, but his eyes grew wide in fear as he saw the storm heading directly for the ship, with a large cyclone at the very lead

"…_Ol' Cyclos is on the move_…" If that storm was coming from the southeast, then that meant it had come by Outset. A storm had actually hit Outset. The impossible suddenly became very much possible.

    "Gonzo!  Try and steer this ship as far away from that cyclone as possible!" Tetra appeared on deck, apparently very flustered and not in a good mood. "And, after this is over, get your hearing checked! I could hear Zuko from below deck!" Link climbed down the ladder and sneakily walked over to the door to go under, where it was safe, but was stopped. "I don't think so, Link. You're staying up here with the rest of us! All hands on deck!" He groaned and stayed put, preferring to stay alive until his sister was back on Outset. 

    "Gonzo! What are you doing?!" Tetra yelled. "Turn away from the cyclone!"

    "It won't turn! The rudder's stuck!"

    "WHAT?!" Suddenly, everyone aboard the ship was thrown to the side. Two enormous monsters that could only be described by the spinning blades on their heads had rammed into the side of the ship like they were trying to push them towards the cyclone. 

    "Tetra! Seahats!" Zuko yelled over the sound of the rain that had begun falling.

    "I KNOW! Senza! Get rid of them!"

    "Aye, aye!" Senza loaded only one cannonball into the cannons, but that was all he needed. With that one shot, both Seahats fell to the ocean water and literally popped out of existence with the accompanying sound of a deflating party-balloon. "Too easy," he said proudly.

    "Nuttin' to be proud of, Senza!" Niko shouted. "There's more!"

    "Bring it on! How many more cannonballs do we have?"

    "Thirty!" Mako yelled as he dried his glasses, only to get them wet again.

    "Ignore the Seahats! We'll need those cannonballs to get into the Forsaken Fortress! Just get over here and help with the rudder! Link! Niko! Hoist the sails! You'd better help too, Gonzo!" Link moaned at the thought of more backbreaking work, and was literally dragged up the ladder by Gonzo. (Starting to sound familiar?)]

    Tetra began to bark orders at all of the pirates as the winds picked up. Link, Niko, and Gonzo were tying the sails up, when suddenly a great wave slammed into the side of the ship.

    "Miss Tetra! If the winds get any stronger, it'll rip the mast right outta the ship!" Niko shouted over the howling winds.

    "Don't say that! You'll curse us like that!" Almost immediately, the winds did get stronger, and another wave crashed against the starboard side. In the force of the impact, Niko's hold on the mast broke, and he went falling to the sea.

    "Niko!" Link yelled. He slid down the mast, grabbed a rope from the cabin wall, and ran towards the port side where Niko was. The boy tied the rope around his feet, and tied the other end to the boat's railings.

    "MAN OVERBOARD!" Mako exclaimed. The captain shot a look to her right, and gasped when she saw Link falling off the ship.

    "LINK!" Tetra ran over to where he just jumped off, and pulled desperately on the rope. "Would you guys forget about that rudder and help me with this!" The rest of the crew looked at her with dumbfounded expressions, shrugged, and raced over to play tug-o-war with the sea. In just a few good tugs, Link and Niko came up from under the water. Link was holding onto the rope tightly with one hand and still had the ropes tied tightly at his heels, and holding Niko like a rag doll with the other.

    They both flopped on the deck, Link breathing hard and shivering like a scared, timid puppy, and Niko, hardly breathing at all. Nudge just lifted Niko to his feet, gave him a good hard slap on the back, and water and a green plant poured out of Niko's mouth.

    "Seaweed. Gets 'em every time. Choke on this stuff, and it'll send ya' straight to Davy Jones' locker," he explained.

    "W-what happened?" Niko asked.

    "If Link wasn't such an idiot, you'd be asking that question to whatever it is at the bottom of the sea by now. Now, LOOK ALIVE, PEOPLE! We've still got a cyclone between us and the Fortress!" With that, everyone, but Link and Niko, jumped to attention and went back to loosening the rudders.

    "Y-you saved me?"

    "Yeah, I guess so," was all that Link could say. He couldn't figure out what in the world had possessed him to jump off a boat into a raging storm to save someone who wasn't exactly the nicest person around.

    "Why?"

    "I dunno. I kinda did it for no reason at all."

    "Link?"

    "Yeah?"

    "I'm proud to…have you as my…as my underling!" Link grinned and nodded. Yep, he would never understand pirates. He looked up to see the cyclone just a little ways from the ship. It seemed to be racing the ship. Suddenly, in the very center of the vortex, Link saw a flash a red. The red figure looked strangely like a giant frog riding on a pick cloud. The boy shook his head, expecting it to just be some hallucination caused by the cold weather and the salty water, and when he opened his eyes, the entire cyclone was gone.

    "What were ya' staring at, Link?" Niko inquired.

    "Nothing, at least, now it's nothing."

    A day later, after passing by Needle Rock, two different reefs, and a strange island with what looked like a giant sea shell sitting high on its shores that the pirates ignored completely, they towers of the Forsaken Fortress could finally be seen on the horizon.

Talli: What the?! You changed like the entire boat trip!

LS: So?

Talli: What happened to the boat ride? What about the jumpy thingy! What the ropes and all that?! And what about the Spoils Bag! And you said there would be a pirate vs. pirate thingy!

LS: Well, I absolutely hate that stupid swabbie test, so I did this instead! I like this better anyway, and, in case you haven't noticed, I've been setting the story up for that storm the entire time!

Talli: *re-reads story* Ohhhhhhhhh! So that's the storm everyone was talking about! Okay!

LS: The Spoils bag will show up next chappie, and I thought about doing this Pirates vs. Pirates thing in this chapter when they go past the two reef (Three and Four-Eye Reefs) because of all the bad pirates there, but Tetra would like that.

Tetra: Yeah! Who would waste cannonballs on such a stupid thing?

Senza: *hides cannonball and chuckles nervously*

Lena: So, as always, review if you're brave enough, and give some constructive criticism, peoples! Too short, too long, too rushed, too drawn out, too many spelling errors (curse this darn computer and its faulty spell check!), too many grammatical errors, too much dialogue, too-

LS: LENA! Please, stop. If you give them too many ideas, their constructive criticism may turn into flames, and I can only stand a certain temperature of the flames. Most flames I can stand, but…

Lena: Well, you could always put it in a bottle, like those blue flames in the Ice Cavern, and then [insert your own evil plans for the use of flames here]  

Everyone else: O.O 

LS: Oooooooooooookay. Next time on Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker! *giggles* I always wanted to do that!

Next Time: The Truly Forsaken Fortress

    Link carefully walked up to the final door, being careful not to alarm the Bokoblin he knew was there. They he saw it lying on the ground, right in front of him! It was his sword! He let out a quiet, happy cheer, and something rose up behind him with a deathly metal sound. And how right he was. Spikes rose up from the floor just inches behind him and the monster's ears perked up.

    "Oh, shoot." The beast trotted across and blocked the way between Link and his weapon. Realizing the situation was just like those when he had to turn off the searchlights, Link strapped his shield on his right arm and waited for it to attack. After the Bokoblin finally got into position, it swung its gigantic sword, but only for it to bounce right off Link's shield and go flying off the tower.  

    The creature cried out frantically and hopped to the edge, looking down at the ocean below, but didn't find its own sword. Link, seeing the perfect opportunity, gave him a little push in the right direction as he called it later, and watched mischievously as the monster awkwardly fell after its sword.

    "Have a nice _trip! See ya' next __fall!" Link called out as the Bokoblin finally hit the water with a loud splash. The bar holding the door closed lifted, and the last door was unlocked. "No spoils this time, I guess, but I'm not complaining!" (Yes, he's talking about goodies from the baddies, not giving away everything about a game! Wait, goodies from the baddies? 0_o)_

    Link picked up his sword and opened the door… 

LS: The incredible unoriginality that is Link's last bit of dialogue in this preview…(ßIs this even a word?) Oh, well! (I say that a lot…) I forgot what else I was going to say and I probably won't remember it 'til next year (2005!!!), so, uh, 'til next time! *walks away, with hands stuffed in pockets, whistling the 'Song of Storms' and hoping for another snow day.*


	3. The Not So Forsaken Fortress

LS: So...happy…! ^__^ This is the very first time I've gotten more reviews in a story than chapters! My record for the most reviews is now FOUR!

Talli: *runs off to find video camera in case LS does something stupid from too much happiness*

LS: Sorry this took longer than it was supposed to. It took a while for the extreme happiness to wear off. I was so happy I could barely type a word! That and the end of semester finals for school. And I got an idea for a future chapter and had to write that all up… 

JediWanda: Fairly Oddparents ROCKS! *starts singing the theme song* Okay, now that that's over with, Thank you SO much for the review! Great Fairy upgrades and stuffs like those are hard to write. . Especially dungeons!

Master Frodo Baggins: The Wind Waker shall never die! Sorry that this took so long, but it was very hard to write this chapter. I didn't even do as much as I thought I would. (kinda like in the last chapter…) but here's the update you were begging for and thank you for reviewing not once, but TWICE!

Talli: Before she does go crazy, or her arms fall off from so much cheering that she can't type at all, LS does not own Legend of Zelda or the Fairly Oddparents! (Not in story, but oh well! *hugs Cosmo*)

PS: My new goal is to finish a chapter every week, if I can, so feel free to annoy me and flame me if I don't get new chapters up about every week or so!

WARNING!: No, there's nothing naughty in this chapter. I just wanted to warn you that it may not be as good as the last two chapters, but don't worry. Even if it stinks so badly that I don't get reviews, this story WILL be finished eventually. I've got some plans for this story. *smiles evilly* Heh heh heh! Bloopers!

3 The Not-So-Forsaken Fortress

    Link sighed. The calm after the storm was a little unnerving, especially with the Forsaken Fortress in sights. Tetra and Niko kept on telling him that nothing could go wrong, but he wasn't entirely sure.

    "Link! Get up here!" Tetra shouted. He sighed again and picked up his sword and shield from the wall. It sounded like they had finally reached their destination. He raced up the companionway and turned around to go to the door, but Niko was blocking his way. Link moved to the left, Niko followed, and then he moved right, and the mini-pirate copied again.

    "Okay then, what is it?" Link asked, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. It looked like the 'I owe you my life,' thing Niko had gotten into had finally ended.

    Niko stayed silent for a while then finally said it. "Good luck, 'cause your gonna need it. This place isn't some kiddie playground. This place means business, so I want you to take this with you." The midget held out a red and purple cloth sack to Link, who promptly tied it to his belt with gratitude. "It's a Spoil's Bag and anything you manage to nab from an enemy can go in there. Then, you've always got a load o' stuff to sell if you're running low on cash!"

    "Thanks, Niko!"

    "If, no, when you get out of there, you're splitting the goods fifty-fifty with me, y'know." Link laughed. Once again, he would never understand pirates.

    "LINK!" The pirate captain yelled again, just with a harsher tone.

    "I guess I'd better get up there."

    "Yep, and you'd better get back in one piece!"

    "After what? Tetra or the actual Fortress?" Niko patted Link on the back with a chuckle.

    "Trust me, kid. There are even tougher women out there than her," Niko said. Link raised an eyebrow at this. What on earth was Niko saying?

    "Somehow, I don't believe it."

    "LINK! Get up here, NOW!"

    "Coming!"

    When Link came out on deck, he finally got his first glimpse of the Forsaken Fortress. All of the pirates were staring at the Fortress with wide eyes and muttering slowly. Apparently, the Forsaken Fortress wasn't so forsaken. The place seemed full of monsters and bright searchlights were scanning the waters nearby for any sign of movement. Luckily, the pirate's ship was hiding behind a huge rock and only the mast could be seen. The searchlights were being run by Bokoblins, obviously. Only they could so stupid as to not see the crow's nest poking up above the stone.

    "Link, up here!" Link looked up at the crow's nest where Tetra was standing, tapping her foot impatiently. He climbed up the long ladder, and got a good look at the place he had to infiltrate to save his sister. It definitely looked fun, at the very least.

    "That's the cursed isle known as the Forsaken Fortress. It used to be the hideout of some no-good group of pirates we used to compete with. Now this place looks pretty dangerous." Link took out his telescope and looked around the Fortress as Tetra kept talking. "Look! Over by that window!" The boy shifted his gaze from the bird, resting peacefully on one of the towers, and looked towards the window Tetra was pointing at. "Have you ever seen so many seagulls gather so much in one place?"

    "Only around my sister," Link answered and Tetra nodded.

    "Yeah. I bet more than anything that that's where they're keeping your sister!" Tetra sighed. "There's only one problem. I thought we were only going to fight the bird, but this place is loaded with cannons. It's like one against a hundred! We can't even get close to the place…" After a moment or two of silence, a grin spread across Tetra's face and she slyly looked at Link.

    "What are you thinking?" he questioned nervously. The pirate leaned over the edge of the crow's nest and shouted down to Senza.

    "Put the cannon away and bring out the catapult!" (*prepares self for a laughing fit*)

    Before he knew it, Link found himself in a barrel, and had no idea why.

    "Why am I in a barrel?" he asked.

    "This is the best way to get you into that place," Tetra answered shortly. Link looked down, and saw exactly what Tetra's plan was. A catapult.

    "WHAT THE-! Why am I on a catapult! Get me off this thing!" Link shouted, squirming around madly trying to get off.

    "Don't you worry, kid. We're gonna launch you good," Senza said professionally.

    "Oh yeah, that makes me feel _so _much better."

    "Relax! Us pirates do it all the time! We're professionals. You've got nothing to worry about!" Tetra tried to reassure him, something she wouldn't do often. That only made Link more nervous.

    "Besides being smashed to smithereens?! GET ME OFF!"

    "3…"

    "Are you kidding?! I'd rather swim there than do this!"

    "2…" Link stayed quiet now. The pirates weren't stopping now. He just put on the straightest face he could.

    "1…"

    "For Aryll," Link thought. 

    "FIRE!" Even with the warning, Link couldn't prepare for the incredible speed that he was suddenly going at, screaming the entire way. The pirates all waved the best they could in their fits of laughter, when suddenly Niko gasped.

    "Senza, what exactly did you aim for?" A loud smashing sound suddenly echoed over the seas. Link hit a wall, and his sword came flying out of its scabbard. 

    "Ooooooo, that's gotta hurt," Gonzo said. Link, unconscious, slid down the wall and a loud splash followed. Well, at least he was inside the Fortress and the cold water probably woke him up.

    Link swam over to the black stone shore of the Fortress and climbed up, gasping for breath. That wasn't an experience he wanted to repeat. He grabbed his hat, wrung it out on the stone, and pulled a fish out of the Spoil's Bag, when his fingers touched a small stone and a rope. Link took it out of the bag and looked at the strange, glowing stone.

    "Hey, Mako! Do you still have that old map from the last time we were here?" The voice came so suddenly that Link spun around and began looking for Tetra, only to find that she wasn't there.

    "Yeah, do you need it?"

    "Would I ask for it if I didn't need it?"

    "Yes, Captain, I mean no!"

    "Just get it! If we're gonna help Link through this place, we're going to need it. Link needs all the help he can get!"

    "Tetra! Is that you?!" Link exclaimed to the stone. It felt weird talking to a rock, but so did listening to one.

    "Oh! Link! You're still alive! And in one piece, I see," Tetra said.

    "What is this thing?" the boy asked.

    "This? Oh, it's called the Pirate's Charm. (Is it? I forgot…) With it, I can see and hear everything you do, and obviously you can hear me. But I need it back after you rescue your sister. Oh, good, you found it! Is that the good one?" Link stared at the stone with confusion. Found what? "Mako found a map of this place that has _everything_. And I mean everything. It even shows where the barrels sitting around this place are, that is, if no one's moved them."

    "Why would I want to know where the barrels are?"

    "Some are hollow, like those right up there in front of you." Link looked up, and sure enough, two barrels were standing right next to the wall. "If any monsters see you here, they toss you straight in jail and I'm not sure if you can get out. That's where these barrels come in. They have holes in the bottom, so you just have to get under one and hide whenever a monster sees you."

    "But I could just fight them off with my sword," Link replied.

    "Yeah, if you had it with you."

    "What? My sword is right…here…" Link's hand flew back to his scabbard, but closed around nothing but air. "Where'd it go?!"

    "When you hit the wall it flew out of your sheath. Sorry! I guess my aim was a little off."

    "What? Were you aiming for the bird?" he said testily. 

    "No," Tetra answered quickly and innocently, but not without a hint of guilt. "Would you just go?! After you get under the barrel, climb up the stairs and hang a right. Then…just keep on exploring the place until I figure out how to get to your sister." With that the stone stopped glowing and Link pocketed it with a sigh. He walked over to the barrel, lifted it over his head and began walking, but, as you could imagine, walking up a slope in a barrel without being able to see where you're going is rather hard. Within around five seconds, Link was back down in the water surrounded by tiny fragments of wood and followed by the skull that had made him trip in the first place. The now extremely soaked kid climbed back up on shore and dried his hat again as muffled laughter came from the Spoil's Bag.

    "Oh, laugh all you want, Tetra. It isn't that easy, you know!"

    "I know, but if the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, you've got one bumpy road ahead of you!" Tetra laughed. If Link could see her through the stone, he knew that he would probably see her rolling on the floor from so much laughter.

    "Well, at least now I can get you to quiet down!" Link moodily shoved the rock back into the Spoil's Bag and got under the second barrel. Luckily, this one had a hole so he could actually see. Carefully avoiding the rest of the lovely pile of skulls, Link finally managed to get to the main part of the Fortress, and as soon as he got there, his jaw dropped to the floor.

    A gargantuan mountain of gold and rupees sat right there in the middle of the area, towering way over Link. (Yeah, yeah. I know there's only like thirty rupees there on the game, but I'm having fun here!) If someone flattened the pile, it could've stretched from the Forsaken Fortress to the Five-Star Isles. To say the least, there was a lot of money there.

    "Woah…" he said as he stared up at the giant pile.

    "LINK! This is no time to stare at cash! You've got a mission!" Tetra shouted. Apparently, the Spoil's Bag's fabric couldn't block everything out. Link turned the barrel around and walked towards the door, but turned back around when he heard a loud clank. A large piece of gold fell from the very top of the Fortress, from half of a pirate ship sitting way up there. Who would throw away gold like that? Someone either very rich or very stupid. Dismissing the pile of gold, Link picked up the barrel slightly and walked towards the path that Tetra talked about. Bad move. Suddenly, a loud blasting siren bounced between the walls and the searchlights focused on the innocent-looking barrel standing right next to the monster heap of riches. Link had done exactly what Tetra advised against: got caught.

    "Link…where are you?" A small tear trickled down the young girl's cheek. "Where are you?" A seagull landed next to her and cawed softly, when suddenly sirens went off outside. Someone from the outside had been caught sneaking in. Maybe it was Link…

    Link woke up, but not to what he wanted. He was hoping that maybe it was all a dream and he would end up back on Outset to a wonderful birthday minus the outfit, but that never seems to happen, does it? Instead, he found himself on a freezing cold stone floor littered with dirt, bits of broken glass and such, and things that you could only find around rats, and locked in a small corner of a room by twisted wooden bars. Cherry on top? A really bad headache.

    "Link! Are you awake, YET?! You'd better be!" The muffled voice shouted from the bag.

    "Tetra? What happened?"

    "As soon as you turned around, the searchlight spotted you moving. A Moblin came along and tried to hit you in the stomach with the blunt end of its stick, but the Moblin got your head on accident. Now you're in jail and have been for the past hour!" Tetra seemed to be in a good mood.

     "That explains the headache, but what's a Moblin?" he asked, rubbing his head. You usually didn't see Moblins on Outset, thankfully.

    "Just think of a large black pig that can stand on its hind legs, carries a staff with a tiny sword at the end, and has absolutely no brains at all," Tetra explained. "Now, quit talking and find a way out of there!"

    "But, there isn't a way out," Link stated.

    "Well, there should be! Look around! There's got to be a crack large enough for you to get out of there! Look everywhere!" The stone stopped glowing again. Tetra probably went to consult the map and find a way out of jail. Link looked around, but it didn't look very promising. There was a table, a few dishes, more barrels, a locked door, a bookcase, and a jar sitting on top of the bookcase. Then, with a faint squeak, a large black rat came around the jar, hopped down the bookcase, and ran up to Link. It sniffed at his wallet tied to his belt and jumped up and down excitedly.

    "What? Do you like money or something?" The rat enthusiastically nodded and began clawing at the cloth. Link shook his head and took out a blue rupee. As soon as the rodent saw the gem, it hurriedly grabbed it, raced back up the bookcase, and, after carefully setting the gem down, it stood up on its hind legs and pushed the jar to the ground, revealing a hole. Pretty smart, for thieving, little rat. The rat picked up its rupee again, raced into the hole and came out a few seconds later, just outside of the jail.

    "Oh, so _that_'_s the way out." Link climbed up to the top of the bookcase and glanced into the hole. It would be a tight squeeze, and he'd have to turn eventually in that narrow space, but at least he wasn't claustrophobic He got back down on the ground and fit his shield, wallet, Spoil's and bait bags, and the empty sheath through the bars. Then, he went back up the bookcase and through the opening and came out on the other side, only to find the same rat that had helped him digging through the Bait Bag._

    "Hey! Get out of there!" Link shouted. The rat looked up with its whiskers covered in bait, scurried over to a wooden walkway on the far side of the room and stopped at a door. "Where are you going, you little thief?" Link picked up his equipment and chased after the rodent, following it through the door. What was the little rat doing? Leading him? 

    As Link opened the door, a blast of cold air hit him. The door led outside, as you may have already guessed, and it was getting colder. The door also led to a stone walkway between two towers of the Fortress. The next tower had seagulls flying around it by the dozens.

    "Link! I've figured something out!" Tetra shouted. "And I see you've figured out how to get out of jail. That was quick." 

    "Actually, I had a little help. I have a guide around the Fortress." The guide-rat looked up at the glowing stone Link was now holding and went back to munching on a piece of bait.

    "What? You're relying on a rat to get you through the Fortress? Are you mad!"

    "Well, it does know its way around and it helped me out of jail, so…" Link could hear the pirate let out a groan.

    "I never thought I'd meet someone who would trust one of those pesky little rodents. Anyway, there's a monster running the searchlight up above you. If you go forward a little and take a sharp left, there should be a ladder there to lead you to the searchlight. I'm betting that if you defeat the monster, you can set up the searchlight any way you want. If all goes well, that'll be the only searchlight you have to turn off." Link was about to explain the little flaw in her plan, but she caught it first. "Oh yeah, you're unarmed, aren't you. Well, just use your shield and try to knock the weapon out of the Bokoblins hands or claws or whatever they are!"

    "Do I have to? Can't I just sneak past the searchlight?" Link complained.

    "Like you did down by the pile of gold? No. Just do it! I'll try and figure out how to get to your sister, okay?"

    "Well, I could always try to sneak past! I doubt there'll be anything to stare at by then."

    "Suit yourself. But the searchlight passes over a _very_ narrow spot, _very_ close to the wall. If you want to hide under a barrel while going past that searchlight, you could always try your luck at surviving a hundred foot drop while being bombarded by bombs, AND when you hit the bottom you'll be thrown in jail while you're at it." Link stared. 

    "Okay, so how do I beat that monster again?" As much as he didn't like and almost feared monsters, he would rather fight a monster the alternate. Tetra quickly told him how to defeat the monsters, again, and he quickly climbed the ladder afterwards. Just like Tetra had said, a Bokoblin was up by the searchlight turning it every now and then. "Okay, Miss Know-It-All Pirate, how do I get this thing's attention?" Link could almost hear her smack her forehead in annoyance.

    "Jump up and sing something humiliating! That should get its attention!" Link raised an eyebrow, hoping that she wasn't serious. "Just shout an insult at it or something! I'm sure you can at least think of a decent insult." A grin spread across Link's face. He had already thought of a few insults for the beast, but luckily for us, being in the presence of a lady narrowed down the long, long list. Link climbed the remainder of the ladder and set his feet down on the tower. Apparently, the Bokoblin hadn't noticed him yet, but that made it even more interesting.

    "'Oy! Blubber-butt! Over here!" (That's the limit on the list things I am willing to say. I said it a lot while going against Jalhalla in the Earth Temple! ^__^) The monster's ears jerked and it turned around, searching for whatever fool dared to insult it. The Bokoblin was surprised when all it found was a weaponless little boy, but that made it easier. As the Bokoblin took out its weapon of choice, a stick, and swung it, Link quickly strapped his shield on his right arm and kneeled down, waiting for the first strike.

    The Bokoblin raised the stick high above it head and brought it down, when it happened. Link raised the shield just a little higher to protect his head from hit from the blow at exactly the same time that the stick hit the shield. The two items coming towards each other like that sent vibrations through both stick and shield, the Bokoblin's weapon broke in half, and the two halves fell to the side, only handy for firewood now. The two opponents looked at the branch with surprise, and then looked at each other: Link with a victorious grin and the Bokoblin looking very helpless.

    "That worked well," he said, and the Bokoblin scooted away quickly, but slowly stopped when it saw that Link hadn't changed his position. Without notice, Link charged forward, using his shield like a battering ram, and plowed through the Bokoblin, pinning it to a wall and most likely braking a few bones. Out of its pocket popped a small butterfly shaped necklace that Link picked up for pretty much no reason.

    "How was that?" Link asked Tetra triumphantly.

    "Absolutely pathetic!" Shot down at the top of victory's ladder. Poor Link. "You're lucky that there was only one and that it had such a cheap weapon! If there were more, you would've been killed immediately like that!"

    "Hey! I've never done this before!" Link shouted at the stone.

    "That's obvious." Link jammed the rock and the necklace back into the Spoil's Bag before he got insulted any more and looked towards the window where the seagulls were flying. It looked like he was right next to it. The Fortress was losing the fight to keep him out. 

    Then he looked down to see a small streak of black racing towards a familiar pile of gold. The money-loving rat had found its paradise, leaving Link without a guide around the Fortress for between Tetra's bits of help.          

    Link climbed down the ladder and walked towards the next door, and hastily hid against the wall with wide eyes. Some horrifying, fat, black pigs were walking around carrying large staffs.

    "Moblins?" he questioned, taking the stone out of his pocket.

    "Yep. They don't look like much, but they're nasty. Don't let them catch you…again or you'll get either killed on the spot or thrown back in jail and then killed. They don't like intruders to get out of jail more than once," Tetra responded. "By the way, the door to where your sister is stuck is over there next to the Moblin over there." Link looked towards the Moblin on the far side of the room, walking past a small staircase made of rock, very much like the rest of the Fortress. All of the dark gray rock was getting rather boring after seeing it for so long. "There's a barrel right there, you know."

    "Oh," Link said, walking towards the barrel. He lifted it up and gently set it down, covering himself completely. Luckily, this barrel also had a hole in it. Link lifted the barrel up just a tiny bit and started walking, fast when the Moblins weren't looking, and hid behind every pillar he could get to. (Only two pillars, but it worked.) Then, clear back on the far side of the room where one of the Moblins was and where Link had just barely gotten to, something bad happened. 

    "Mo smell meats," Someone said in a rough, gravelly, nasally voice. Link couldn't see the owner of the voice, as the barrel's hole was now facing the wall, then heard someone sniffing the air noisily and another voice spoke up.

    "Me smell nothin'"

    "Mo can smell!" Mo shouted. "You has bad nose, Me." Interesting name. Apparently, the only way they could remember their own names was if they had less than three letters. Not only that, but that was the longest sentence yet from these guys.

    "Where's meats?" Then, Link heard the monster turn around towards the barrel. 

    "Meats in barrel."

    "Meats for Master."

    "Master has enough food. Maybe we takes some?" Now Link was impressed. Two four-word sentences in a row! Wait a minute! What they were saying was bad, and just didn't sound right.

    "Master get mad!" Me said.

    "Master get mad if we dies from hunger." (RECORD! 8 WORDS!) There was a short silence as the two Moblins looked at each other, their beady black eyes filled with hunger. "FOOD MINE!" Mo swung his staff at the barrel, chopping the top off with a clean cut, and narrowly missing Link. There was another pause from Link's shock at nearly being decapitated and the Moblins shock at their food being still alive.  

    "Uh, hi," Link said timidly. "I'm…uh…still alive you know, and not very fit for eating, so I think I'll just…move along…" He turned around and marched up towards the door, when he suddenly felt the staff against the front of his neck.

    "You go nowheres," Me replied, pulling the staff closer. "I chop off head." Now Mo put his staff to Me's neck.

    "I want to! You did last one!" 

    "Ewwwwwww! You take turns chopping off people's heads!" Link exclaimed in disgust. He didn't know that it was actually very common among the 'smarter' monsters. Even Stalfos, when very bored, would take turns chopping heads off, even if it _was their own heads._

    "Shaddup!" The Moblins shouted, making Link gasp for fresh air after the sudden blast of nauseating Moblin breath.

    "Why don't you shut up, dirt for brains!" A voice suddenly came out of nowhere, loud and clear. "Get your dirty, stinkin' staff off that boy or you'll pay with your heads!" The Moblins' eyes both grew to the size of treasure chest and they looked around frantically, searching for the voice, but never found it. Link, however, knew exactly where and who it was and just grinned.

    "You'd better listen to it, you two! It's a ghost that can and will kill you instantly in you don't do what it says." Both Moblins, at that, scattered and ran back to their posts, looking at the boy nervously. "Thanks Tetra," he said quietly. 

    "Don't mention it. I mean, really! Don't mention it! We're even now, you saved me back on Outset, I saved you here." Link walked up to the door and outside again. Now he could hear the creaking of the boat on top of the Fortress, that ominous shadow. 

    "Watch it, Link. At the end of this path is thew door to where your sister is, but it's also where another Bokoblin is."

    "Another one?" Link complained.

    "Sorry! But this one will be a heck of a lot tougher. It doesn't have a stick for a weapon, for one thing."

    "How does that make it more dangerous?"

    "It uses a sword."

    "Oh," he replied shortly. Link carefully walked up to the final door, being careful not to alarm the Bokoblin Tetra said was there. Then, at the very end of the long and winding path up the side of the tallest tower, he saw it lying on the ground, right in front of him! It was his sword! He let out a quiet, happy cheer, and something rose up behind him with a deathly metal sound. How right that was. Spikes rose up from the floor just centimeters behind him and the monster's ears perked up.

    "Oh, shoot." The Bokoblin trotted across and blocked the way between Link and his only weapon. Then Link realized that, besides the Bokoblin's different weapon, the situation was still close to the one at the searchlight. Link strapped his shield on and waiting for the attack. After the Bokoblin finally got into an ideal position, it swung its enormous blade only for it to bounce right off the boy's shield and go flying off the tower. 

    The creature cried out frantically and hopped to the edge, looking down to the ocean below, but didn't find its sword. Link, seeing the perfect opportunity, gave it a push in the right direction as he called it later, and watched as the monster awkwardly fell after it sword.

    "Have a nice _trip! See ya' next __fall!" Link called out as the Bokoblin finally hit the water with a splash. The bar holding the door closed was lifted and the last door unlocked. "No spoils this time, but I'm not complaining as long as this is all over."_

    Link picked up his sword and opened the door, and was suddenly hit by a burst of light from the brightly-lit room. He squinted his eyes to look around, and finally found what he was looking for. Aryll was sitting down with her knees to her chin, holding out her hand to a little seagull. Two other girls were in there with her.

    He took a step, when suddenly his instincts and Tetra were both screaming at him to get out of there. Too late. The giant black bird, the same one that had started the whole mess, had fallen from the ceiling and caused everything and everyone to get knocked down from their feet. Link screamed loudly and hit the now somehow locked door, and was suddenly picked up in the bird's huge beak. Luckily, it didn't eat him, but started to fly back up towards the ceiling.

    "LINK!" Aryll shrieked, but he was already to high up to fall without getting killed. The bird continued to fly up until it was level with the boat and flew around to the broken end. Without notice, all went quiet. Link could hear nothing besides the heavy wind and the creaking of the ship. Everything else: The beats of the wings, Tetra's and Aryll's shouts, the crashing of the waves. It all went mute.

    Then Link saw the Master of the Fortress. The man stood proud and powerful over the sea, with dark skin to match his dark clothes. With a slight, victorious sneer, he simply nodded to the bird, and the avis threw the young boy out to sea.

    "You've had your fun, boy," he said. "But this time, I will not be stopped."

    Somewhere, far out to sea, Link, barely alive, was floating softly on the gentle waves, when a red boat floated up to him…

LS: WOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I'm finally done with this chapter and let me tell you it was the hardest yet!

Talli: It would've been easier if you were a little more diligent…

LS: Aw, shut it!

Lena: She's right you know.

LS: *sticks out tongue*

Talli: Anyway, thanks for your reviews again! Sorry, but there won't be any sneak peak for the next chapter. I couldn't think of any good parts that were exciting and didn't give away the entire darn thing. The next chapter will introduce a few new characters (Tingle!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH! Run for your lives!) and is basically when everything just gets sets up for the rest and *blah, blah, blah!*

LS: *pulls out duct tape* ^__^ Plot holes and blabbermouths beware!

Talli & Lena: O.O!

LS: Isn't it strange that out of all the undeads and bosses and plain scary monsters in the Wind Waker, Tingle and those little piggies on Windfall and Outset are the scariest and most dangerous?

Everyone: O.o?

LS: Whhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? 


	4. Not a chapter yet

So totally sorry that I haven't been doing very well at posting a chapter a week, but it's become hectic week! Skiing, concert, vacation to cousin's house, (where I am right now) about fifty other ideas begging to be put on paper, one of which I'm starting to like…And something about my story that I was worrying about.

I was wondering what you guys think: Should I put in an original character, or keep EXACTLY to the game. I would prefer an original character because I already wrote one of the chapters with her in it and it would help with character development lots! On the other hand, everyone's been complimenting me on how well I've stuck to the storyline…If you want a little more info on the original character before you decide, e-mail me at egyptgirl@pmt.org or lastsheikah@msn.org

Talli & Lena: THE ORIGINAL CHARACTER IS MEAN!!!!! 

LS: No she isn't! She just holds one heck of a grudge. *laughs nervously*

Mystery person: PIRATE! *attacks LS*

LS: @_@

So, OC or no?   


End file.
